DMajor

Most items you buy in a pharmacy are a lot cheaper in the UK. Hair stuff, mouthwash, shaving razors that type of thing.

Beer, wines and spirits much cheaper in the UK too and available pretty much everywhere in a large-ish town whereas in Ontario it's a separate trek to the beer store or LCBO.

Good quality bread, Cheese, fruit and veg all nearly double what I used to pay in the UK and the quality in some of the stores (foodland, metro eg) not great...

Car insurance is ridiculously expensive in some areas as are mobile phone packages and internet...not sure why, maybe less competition...I remember only paying 25 a month for my BT mobile and thinking I could get it cheaper some where...Oh well!!

Cheaper gas here, cheaper to rent a place, cheaper to eat out if you don't give a 25% tip every time...Clothes/footwear about the same.

nicolasmith

Houses: now that all depends on where in Canada you are moving to. BC is very expensive and almost unaffordable for most people..... we are actually considering moving back after 6 years in Ontario and 2 years in BC. We are out of our comfort zone and with prices rising all the time we don't stand much chance of getting on the housing ladder. Good luck with your move 😊

BristolUK

That might depend on one's definition of decent.

I've never been concerned about designer labels. Happy enough with a pair of plain jeans or Wranglers. Typically my clothes used to come from Debenhams, C&A, M&S, TK Maxx, Primark (which I accept sold stuff that often only lasted half as long but half as long for a quarter of the price means you can spend half and it lasts just as long) and George stuff in ASDA.

I left the UK in 2004 when I would typically have paid £25 for trousers or jeans. 13 years on I can buy jeans for less than that in $$. I just did some googling and Walmart has jeans for $15 and Wranglers for between $17 and $29. The cheapest I could find UK was £20.

I used to buy polo style shirts in Primark for £4 or £10 for something a little more stylish in M&S (don't laugh ).
I can get the equivalent (quality/style) here for $10 and $14.
None of these are sale price BTW and we're still 13 years on.

I bought my winter boots for $35 in 2005 and a different but equivalent pair for the same price for last winter. They are no worse than a pair I bought with a January 1989 Leningrad/Moscow trip in mind for more than £30.

I took a look around the clothing department in Sears last year. Now that was an eye opener and I can believe a comparison with the UK might not be too favourable.

But my clothing choice, quality, style etc for the same here and now is much less than there and then.

Siouxie

Madoc seems pretty reasonable for house purchases (to get on the ladder initially) from $99k (admittedly not a particularly attractive house) and a few in the 150-250k price range. I agree that BC tends to be more expensive than most places though!

Have you considered moving elsewhere in Ontario, perhaps?

beckiwoo

I'm surprised how long my Primark jeans have lasted. I'm that impressed I brought two more pairs when I was back in the UK.

Anything purchased in Ardene (poor equivalent of Primark) only lasted a month

BristolUK

I wonder if Primark has improved in recent years.

Aside from quality, something I always noticed was clothes on the floor and I assumed it to be careless customers.

Then one day I saw staff refolding stuff and they threw it on the floor to make space for the stuff they just folded. And if they were interrupted by something, off they went leaving clothing on the floor.

But since I left Bristol, a new shopping centre was built and John Lewis moved into it with Primark taking over their previous premises. I'm sure I've read people say as well as a better store, the product has improved.

Giant Tiger's the same. Their clothing was (old) Primark equivalent when I first went in their store for groceries but the quality has much improved over the last couple of years.

My current winter boots, $18 winter "when it's around -10" jacket, fleece jacket doubling as cardy, winter hat, 'smalls' and mittens all came from there.

cheeky_monkey

im talking about decent trousers for work and shirts and shoes..i recently bought a pair of trousers from Walmart for $24 seems ok...34 X 32 regular it says..normally i bought 34 X 34 long in the UK..but these Walmart trousers were the most ill fitting ever they were massive..just like clown trousers..they were too big in the waist and way too long in length and the material was pretty shabby too..i also remember buying a couple of shirts from sears i think..15 1/2 collar tailored fit..but the length in the arms were way too short and again quality is questionable.

BristolUK

Did you get these to go with them?

Buck2467

You guys are seriously making me worry about moving over there.

Former Lancastrian

Why? Its not like we all live in igloos and have sled dog teams to get us to work provided that they haven't frozen to death overnight and been eaten by the bears.

Canada is different but no different to the UK as the USA would be.

not2old

Other than the high cost of living, rents & property prices can be out of reach, the fact that it's not a nanny state, difficult for new immigrants to find decent paying work - Canada is a great country to live in.

If you've never been to Canada, come see it at its best in mid February, come for 2-weeks, travel around, stay in one of the major cities, either Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg or Calgary.

It's worth the experience for anyone considering a move to Canada to see it at it's coldest time of year.



.

dbd33

Perhaps reasonably, perhaps not. If you're looking for a better material standard of living in a urban setting then I think that ship has sailed; the exchange rate means you can no longer sell your semi in Surbiton and buy a couple of acres of central Toronto or Vancouver and you're not likely to have a lot more income after moving (at least not in the first few years). Overall, things are not cheaper.

But, if you want a rural lifestyle and don't mind being cold and damp then much of Canada is cheaper than rural Scotland or Wales. Do you want to keep sheep, cows or goats?

not2old

Why Canada?

Have you considered other options, maybe Australia or New Zealand?

Shakyuk

I haven't decided which I'd like to keep, on a completely unrelated subject... <snip>

The UK is pretty pants and to me, it does sound like a lot of the UK problems are faced by Canada too or Canadian equivocal, albeit depending where you are in Canada. But the rural lifestyle seems far more achievable in Canada than in the UK and the long term prospects of Canada seem far more viable than the UK with our rapidly rising mass of debt. Also the thought of bringing up kids in the UK is enough to make me want to never had kids.

The thought of emigrating to live in just another city bewilders me, a modern city is a modern city to me.

The process to get to Canada and get registration for regulated professions seems so difficult that I'm surprised Canada gets so many immigrants!

Buck2467

Im looking forward to a rural life. Not bothered about city life. Want the whole land, livestock and growing my own lifestyle. Property seems to be cheap enough where I'm looking in nova scotia, for the cost of my 4 bed terrace in Somerset I could get a 5 bed detached with workshop and 2 bed granny annex in plenty of land. Issue I've got is my trade, I'm an aircraft (helicopter) mechanic, and so far I've not found many employers online and those that are advertising seem to be offering a lot less than I'm currently on. If cost of living is so high I'm worried wether I will be able to sustain a decent enoigh lifestyle for my family to warrant the move. I'm very early on in the process though and am still researching